Tuesday, July 3, 2018

July 3, 2018 squeezed between July 1 (Canada Day) and July 4 (U.S. Independence Day)

July 3, 2018, appears to this scribe as a Canadian married to a dual-citizen,
(American-Canadian) sitting between July 1 and July 4, the two ‘national
holidays’ that open the summer vacation so different from all the previous July 3's in this lifetime.

To be sure, there have been trade spats between the
U.S. and Canada before; this one, however, seems., like everything else about
this U.S. presidential term, to be driven by a personal animus. Most time in
our shared history, policy differences have not been rooted in personality
politics. Kennedy and Diefenbaker, back in the 1960’s had little regard for
each other, the former considering the latter a trifle pedantic, aloof and
rigid. (Doubtless, the latter considered the American president somewhat
daunting, in his youth, Cicero-like rhetoric, and public adulation.) However,
the public “justification” being deployed by the American administration,
national security, is more than a little offensive, insulting and downright
unjustifiable.

And then there is the latest report of some twelve
letters from the Oval Office to Canada and her NATO partners, publicly scorning
each for not paying their fair share towards the defence of NATO partners.
While it is true that we have been laggard in reaching the 2.9% of GDP target
advocated as long ago as Lester Pearson’s term as Prime Minister, public
wrist-slapping, (as would characterize an obsessively controlling parent
disciplining a six-year-old) does not past muster as reasonable “diplomacy”.

And as with most files, this president either
conflates diplomacy and critical parenting, does not know the difference, or
simply considers himself above such nuanced distinctions. Just as in his
argument about tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, (Canada is NOT a
national security threat to the U.S.) so too, critical parenting is NOT
diplomacy; and it will not generate a positive response from any of the
targeted countries whose NATO ante trump wants enlarged.

Blurring the lines between the fact of North Korea’s
continuing and perhaps expanded enrichment of her nuclear arsenal (as reported
by U.S. intelligence officials) and trump’s trumpeting North Korea’s commitment
to de-nuclearization, while on the surface, may be seen to be merely a different
“perspective” on the same evidence, is, conversely, quite the opposite. The
facts as uncovered by American officials simply defy the “make-up” the trump
pastes over the truth.

Another distortion from the White House is the
exaggerated yelling over a mere 2% of the trade with Canada, (supply
management), an issue the Canadian government had already agreed to modify in
the middle of the NAFTA negotiations. Tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10%
on aluminum imports seems hardly like a “proportional” response.

It is, indeed, the completely disproportionate,
disillusioned, distorted and extra-reality response the trump brings to every
table where he sits(and all of it for
the express purpose of gilding HIS lily) that so shatters the trust of all
others at whatever table. So, on this July 3, 2018, Canadians read stories from
legitimate news sources that our cell phones might actually be scrutinized by
American border agents, in the unlikely case that we might have read something
of the world’s criticism of the trump administration. (How would we possibly
have access to world opinion without reading harsh, devastating and truthful
criticism of this American administration?)

Conflating and generalizing about the quality of
immigrants, asylum-seekers, refugees, colouring them all as potential “threats”
to “law and order” is just another of the scripts being trumpeted by this
occupant of the Oval Office, arrogantly, and unethically, and immorally and insecurely
joining the fear-mongering of other right-wing wall-proponents. And this comes
at a time when military conflict, global trade, global warming and exacerbated
economic distress threaten poor and voiceless people on every continent. Rather
than build walls, and thumb our nose and our compassion at these frightened
individuals and families, we could be building creative coalitions to being to
address what is surely going to be a wave of tsunamis of people “seeking higher
ground” in both the literal and the metaphoric sense of that phrase.

Refusing to face the basic facts, and then distorting
those facts into a thalidomide-distortion of those facts, in order to justify
an unjustifiable personal agenda is not in the interest of the country he has
been charged with leading, nor in the interest of the wider global community,
whose support and collaboration all nations need now and into the foreseeable
future to cope with the “monsters” already in the headlights.

American isolation, based on a distorted perception of
the reality on the ground, will give way, inevitably, to the creeping incursion
of both Russia and China into the cracks trump is generating with his
sledge-hammer rhetoric, radioactive proposals and egomaniacal cult-building.
Failing to respect and honour the institutions of democracy at home is a sure
step to enhancing the replacement of fundamentally democratic governance
abroad. Championing tyrants, dictators, military parades, life-long
presidencies, one-sided and unbalanced foreign policy, the exaggerated
emboldening of the U.S. military (at the draining expense of social programs
like education, health care and poverty reduction) puts the president on his
own gated island, and puts the rest of the world on edge.

Canadians too, on this July 3, are wondering what
meaning and import our “friendly neighbour”, undefended border, open trade and
reciprocal and respectful relationship with the behemoth to the south of the
last century will become. And we are wondering in a spirit of anxiety, despair,
and less hope and optimism than at any time since the second war.

We are sad; we are worried; and we are appalled. Yet,
we are also more proud and confident than at any time in our history. The “old”
Canada, in the stereotypical version held by millions of Americans, decent,
quiet, meek, malleable, and somewhat immature and “pinko” (as Nixon described
Trudeau, “that pinko Commie bastard”) is no longer appropriate. And trump is
locked into his version of that stereotype…at his own and our peril.

Canada is mature, intelligent, clear-headed and
somewhat better at debate and discussion than at making big decisions,
preferring an evolutionary and moderate pace to change (with a few notable
exceptions, like the FLQ, back in the 1970’s and 80’s).

We have a history of
multiple protracted national investigative commissions whose recommendations
mostly gather dust in the National Archives. And yet, somehow we manage to
confront issues when the need is deemed significant, urgent and immediate. We
are diffident in our public debate, honourable in our treatment of our
political foes, while in private, we hold often contemptuous views of various
leaders and policies.

As a middle-sized nation, (now boasting a population
of some 37 million), locked between the Arctic and American elephants, we no
longer get a cold when the U.S. sneezes, as was once the case. Nor do we
consider hard power, the military and the penal system to be our primary
adjudication processes, at home or around the world. And while we have a legacy
of indecent treatment of our indigenous peoples, we have finally awakened to
our responsibility and have begun to atone. Hockey, our national sport, (not
lacrosse) demonstrates many of our national attributes, attitudes and values:
discipline, persistence, a little “chippy” and highly energetic…

So, please do not take your northern neighbour for
granted, as many of your more affluent citizens have done for decades. Smaller
is not less than equal…and you are going to learn the full meaning of that soon
if you have not already!